Rob Bell – Everything is Spiritual

Despite being an award-winning artist, Bafta-winning TV presenter, Reith Lecturer and bestselling author, Grayson Perry is a normal person – and just like other normal people, he’s marginally aware that we’re all going to die.

Born in Essex in 1960, Grayson has had a career spanning 40 years. From his A House for Essex, a permanent building constructed in the North Essex countryside in 2015, to Grayson Perry’s Big American Road Trip - a three-part documentary travelogue in which he explored the meaning of the American Dream today - and Grayson’s Art Club, which brought the nation together during lockdown through art, making new works and hosting masterclasses, Perry is somewhat an expert in making lemonade out of the mundanity of life.

Let Grayson take you through an enlightening and eye-watering evening in which this kind of existentialism descends from worthiness to silliness. You’ll leave safe and warm in the knowledge that nothing really matters anyway.

Join Grayson as he asks, and possibly answers, these big questions in an evening sure to distract you from the very meaninglessness of life in the way only a man in a dress can.

Don't miss this opportunity to see an ordinary woman with an extraordinary gift.

We are Nature

We need the Wilderness as much as the Wilderness needs us. 

Recently we have learnt to value our green spaces more than ever.

In this fascinating, inspirational, and educational show, Ray will be demonstrating and explaining techniques that will help us improve our senses and highlight the problems nature faces today.
It is time to cease being frustrated and act now to prevent crimes against nature and the environment

Come and celebrate the importance of the Wilderness to us all.

Join us for an An Audience with Martin Offiah, hosted by BBC and BT Sport Rugby League commentator Dave Woods.

Join us for an An Audience with Martin Offiah, hosted by BBC and BT Sport Rugby League commentator Dave Woods.

Mr P has been a primary school teacher for over 12 years. He still works part-time in school and leads training in schools all over the UK and beyond. From sharing ideas and funny insights into life in the classroom, he has now become one of the most followed teachers on social media in the UK.
 
3 years ago, alongside his younger brother (who also works in a school) he started the award-winning podcast - Two Mr Ps in a Podcast. In a year, it has been the number one education podcast and amassed over 3 million listens. In August 2021, they are releasing their highly anticipated first book - ‘Put A Wet Paper Towel On It - The Weird and Wonderful World of Primary Schools’.
 
Sharing funny stories from the front line of teaching, this live show will see the Two Mr Ps reminiscing on their own school days and looking at the wonderful and hilarious world of education. Anyone who went to school will enjoy and relate to this brilliant new show.
 

 

In a cultural landscape filled with endless pundits and talking heads, Fran Lebowitz stands out as one of our most insightful social commentators.

An American original and purveyor of urban cool, the cultural satirist and author is pointed, forthright, unapologetically opinionated, and known for her hilariously dry social commentary on American life. Lebowitz’s recent Netflix documentary series directed by good friend Martin Scorsese, Pretend It’s A City, was an unmitigated hit with its offering of a tantalizing snapshot of New York in full bloom, along with Lebowitz’s lively and unapologetic commentary on what it means to live there.

For a limited run of dates, Lebowitz will be live in conversation, sharing her invariably cutting take on anything and everything; from growing up in New Jersey and being expelled from her high school for being a bad influence on her peers, to moving to New York City in the 70’s, and writing a column for Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine. She’ll offers insights on such timely issues as gender, race, gay rights, and the media, as well as on her own pet peeves—including celebrity culture, tourists, and baby strollers.

These events promise to be a balm in a wildly shifting world, offering spot-on observations about contemporary living and the opportunity to ask Lebowitz your own controversial questions. Do not miss it.

“No animal should ever jump up on the dining room furniture unless absolutely certain that he can hold his own in the conversation.” – Fran Lebowitz

Presented by Fane

An American original and purveyor of urban cool, thecultural satirist and author is pointed, forthright, unapologeticallyopinionated, and known for her hilariously dry social commentary on Americanlife. Lebowitz’s recent Netflix documentary series directed by good friendMartin Scorsese, Pretend It’s A City,was an unmitigated hit with its offering of a tantalizing snapshot of New Yorkin full bloom, along with Lebowitz’s lively and unapologetic commentary on whatit means to live there.

For a limited run of dates, Lebowitz will be live inconversation, sharing her invariably cutting take on anything and everything;from growing up in New Jersey and being expelled from her high school for beinga bad influence on her peers, to moving to New York City in the 70’s, andwriting a column for Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine. She’ll offersinsights on such timely issues as gender, race, gay rights, and the media, aswell as on her own pet peeves—including celebrity culture, tourists, and babystrollers.

These events promise to be a balm in a wildly shiftingworld, offering spot-on observations about contemporary living and theopportunity to ask Lebowitz your own controversial questions. Do not miss it.

“No animal should ever jump up on the dining room furnitureunless absolutely certain that he can hold his own in the conversation.” – FranLebowitz

Presented by Fane

Derren Brown returns to the stage with his brand-new live show!
 
The multi award-winning master of mind control and psychological illusion, Derren Brown, is at his very best on stage. His one-man shows have received wide critical acclaim and more Olivier wins and nominations than any other in history!
 
Now with his first brand new theatre show in five years, Derren Brown returns to astonish and amaze audiences up and down the country. The content of Showman remains a closely-guarded secret, but if you’ve seen him before, you know you’re in for a powerhouse treat!
 
"All I can reveal is that the show will ultimately be about you, the audience member, because that’s what I find most interesting. There are places I’d like to take the audience where we haven’t been before. I always aim to have it deliver more than you'd expect. I’m excited to be at the starting point of that process. Getting it on the road will be my favourite part of the year."Derren Brown
 

Not suitable for under 12s

With sardonic wit and incisive social critiques, David Sedaris has become one of America’s pre-eminent humor writers. He is the master of satire and one of today’s most observant writers addressing the human condition. Calypso, his latest collection of essays, is a New York Times best-seller, and a Washington Post Best Book of the Year. The audiobook of Calypso has been nominated for a 2019 Grammy in the Best Spoken Word Album category.
 
Beloved for his personal essays and short stories, David Sedaris is the author of Barrel Fever, Holidays on Ice, Naked, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls, and Theft By Finding: Diaries (1977-2002). He is the author of Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary, a collection of fables with illustrations by Ian Falconer. Each of these books was an immediate bestseller. He was also the editor of Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules: An Anthology of Outstanding Stories. His pieces regularly appear in The New Yorker and have twice been included in “The Best American Essays.” There are over ten million copies of his books in print and they have been translated into 25 languages. In 2018 he was awarded the Terry Southern Prize for Humor, as well as the Medal for Spoken Language from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In March 2019 he was elected as a member into the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
 
He and his sister, Amy Sedaris, have collaborated under the name “The Talent Family” and have written half-a-dozen plays which have been produced at La Mama, Lincoln Center, and The Drama Department in New York City. These plays include Stump the Host, Stitches, One Woman Shoe, which received an Obie Award, Incident at Cobbler’s Knob, and The Book of Liz, which was published in book form by Dramatists Play Service. 
 
Sedaris’s original audio pieces can often be heard on the public radio show This American Life. He has been nominated for three Grammy Awards for Best Spoken Word and Best Comedy Album. His latest audio recording of new stories (recorded live) is “David Sedaris: Live for Your Listening Pleasure” (November 2009). A feature film adaptation of his story C.O.G. was released after a premiere at the Sundance Film Festival (2013). Since 2011, he can be heard annually on a series of live recordings on BBC Radio 4 entitled “Meet David Sedaris.” 
 
As a companion piece to his New York Times best-selling book Theft By Finding: Diaries (1977-2002), Jeffrey Jenkins published and edited an art book of Sedaris’s diary covers, entitled David Sedaris Diaries: A Visual Compendium. He is currently working on a second volume of his diaries.
 
You can follow David on Facebook at www.facebook.com/davidsedaris
or visit his official website at http://www.davidsedarisbooks.com/

From the police beat to the Hollywood movie screen to a Five Nations Grand Slam and MasterChef final, Martin Bayfield has had a varied life! 

Join former England international and true giant of the game Martin Bayfield as he embarks on his ‘Rugby Legends’ UK tour. 
Martin says,
“This is the game I want to celebrate. The game of my youth, the game that became my family, the game that took me around the world and opened the door to so many unexpected wonders.
If you’ve played the game, you’ll nod your head and chuckle. If Rugby is new to you, you’ll shake your head in disbelief. It shouldn’t work, but it does, and that’s why I love it so much.
Joining me on this journey down Amnesia Avenue will be some great names from the game. Players who have made their mark, but perhaps more importantly players who for me have added the colour and the chaos.”

Bedford 1975: a 5’4” 8-year-old Martin was finding himself useless at every sport he tried, describing his attempts at football as “woefully poor” and cricket “dangerously poor”, but swimming? “I was good at that. Slightly niche, but I’ll take it”!  It would all change when a coach threw an odd-shaped ball accompanied by the wise words, “Hey, shorty, you’ll like this game”.

47 years on and Martin’s passion for the ‘insanely bonkers’ game has not diminished; now a top commentator for the sport with a successful TV and film career alongside motivational speaking work, he still relishes his playing career during the early years of the game, when internationals ran out alongside the club stalwarts and legends rubbed shoulders with the well-meaning incompetent.

The audience can expect stories with soon to be announced special guests about international games, local teams; legends emerging from coal mines, farms, police stations, classrooms, universities. Matches played on 6” of grass, mud in the winter, hard pan in the autumn and spring months.  Riotous end of season tours and half cooked lasagne or chilli con carne after the game washed down with beer, then the long, meandering journey home.